Child abuse stats reveal tragic truth

The Government has scored an own goal with its report card on Better Public Service Targets only highlighting its failure to tackle child abuse, Labour’s Children’s spokesperson Jacinda Arden says.

“One of National’s top 10 goals, set out in a ‘to-do’ list three years ago was to reduce the number of children experiencing physical abuse by five percent by 2017.

“Read between the lines and the update shows that is unlikely.

“The report notes that in the year to March 2015, there were 3144 assaults on children, up from 3,111 the previous year. Those are dreadful figures, yet police stats tell us the situation could be even worse than that, with the number of violent assaults on children up 3.5 per cent to a record 5397 offences in 2014.

“The Government talks about ‘stemming an upward trajectory’. It hasn’t.

“Rather than trying to pretend it is meeting targets, it needs to work across sectors and agencies to prevent even more harm to our kids in future,” Jacinda Ardern says.